ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, April 28 (UPI) -- Afghanistan is boosting its relations with its western neighbor, Turkmenistan.
Turkmenistan.ru reported earlier this week that Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov has met with an Afghan official delegation headed by Afghan Minister of Energy and Water Resources Mohammed Ismail. Accompanying Ismail were Deputy Minister for Power Muhammad Jalil Shams and USAID Energy Group representative Thomas Heinz.
The discussions centered on cooperation in the power sector between energy-rich Turkmenistan and power-starved Afghanistan, particularly in increasing Turkmen power supplies to Afghanistan and construction of new power transmission lines to facilitate electrical exports.
President Niyazov proposed supplying Turkmen electricity across a number of networks, including a Turkmenistan-Herat-Kandahar-Kabul-Mazar-e-Sharif-Herat route.
Niyazov said that Turkmenistan would underwrite and construct a 350-kilowatt LEP-500 power transmission line from its Mary Power Station to the Afghan border with the eventual goal of supplying up to 800 megawatts of power to Afghanistan.
As goodwill gesture, Niyazov also cancelled 50 percent of Afghanistan's outstanding debt for Turkmen power and construction of power facilities built by Turkmenistan in Afghanistan.
